Star Wars, The New Yorker Like Not

The general opinion of “Revenge of the Sith” seems to be that it marks a distinct improvement on the last two episodes, “The Phantom Menace” and “Attack of the Clones.” True, but only in the same way that dying from natural causes is preferable to crucifixion.

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9 Responses to Star Wars, The New Yorker Like Not

Considering I somehow managed to come out of both Episodes 1 & 2 pretty jazzed, this bodes quite well. Wait– I should preface that– pretty jazzed the first time around. After that, as they say, things fell apart. Quickly. Come 12:01 this evening, we’ll see.

I’ve been called out. Yes, I was initially wowed by the new Yoda action figure with the kung-fu grip. Who couldn’t be? That flash of zen green.

But as I reflected on it, I was enthused about that sequence because it was the one bit of engaging action in that whole dumb movie. Ultimately, I think it would have been better for the character had Yoda used other force powers to best his opponent (dooku, or however you spell it), rather than the lightsaber. To me, Yoda’s battle has a hint of Marc’s “fart scene” – it is unexpected, therefore amusing. Yoda’s strength stems from his sense of calm, and that frenetic battle scene just took away from that.

Oh and to answer the big question, Yoda does ***not*** fart in the movie. But there are some “popcorn” moments, only this time they actually feel somewhat substantial (as opposed to the Dooku fight in AOTC which, in the end, really solved or exposed nothing).

While I like to read Anthony Lane for his snarkiness, I’ve found to be ovely cranky of late. Stephen Hunter’s review in the post is a lot more favorable, and Hunter seems much more reliable on American Popcorn Movies.

I suspect Sith will be the first movie beside Harry Potter III that we’ll see in the theatre since the kids were born (although I wish we had seen Return of the King that way). For everything else, Netflix has been just fine.